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July 19, 2009

G91: Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 1

Boston had two chances to get to Halladay in the early innings, but could not -- and Halladay cruised to his fourth complete game of the season (9-6-1-0-7, 105).

With one out in the first, Dustin Pedroia singled and Kevin Youkilis followed with a double. David Ortiz's line out to right brought in FY with a quick run (Halladay had thrown only 10 pitches), but Alex Rios hauled in Jason Bay's deep drive to the wall in dead center.

In the third, Pedroia and Youkilis singled with one out. But Ortiz grounded into a force play and Bay flew to Rios again. The only other baserunners for the Red Sox aftre that were Ortiz, who singled in the sixth, and Bay, who forced him at second.

Lester (7-5-3-4-6, 112) walked four batters for the first time this season. He had not walked that many since September 2, 2008 -- and the time before that? April 29, 2008: his 8-1-0-4-6 game against Halladay. A nine-day layoff because of the All-Star Game might have contributed to some rustiness.

Rod Barajas -- he of the .107/.107/.214 batting line in July and .169/.207/.325 since June 6 -- drove in all three Toronto runs.

After Lyle Overbay and Alex Rios both walked in the second (on a total of nine pitches), Barajas's double into the left field corner brought them both home. In the sixth, Overbay doubled, Rios singled, and Barajas hit a sacrifice fly to center. He also singled in the fourth.Jon Lester (3.87, 120 ERA+) / Roy Halladay (2.85, 151 ERA+)

Lester enters the second half of the season on a bona fide hot streak. The 25-year-old lefty has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his past eight starts since May 31, yielding one run or fewer in six of those outings. Just 21 strikeouts shy of last year's career-high total of 152 ...

Fresh off a start for the American League in the All-Star Game, Halladay returns to the Jays' rotation in search of his first win since June 7. Over his past four starts, including an injury-shortened outing on June 12 that led to a two-week stint on the disabled list with a right groin issue, Doc has gone 0-2 with a 4.30 ERA.

These two aces last met on April 29, 2008 at Fenway Park. Lester threw eight shutout innings, allowing only one hit, and the Red Sox rallied with two outs in the bottom of the ninth off Halladay -- Ortiz walk, Manny single, Youkilis RBI single -- to win 1-0.

Mike Lowell will likely get the day off, with Jed Lowrie playing third and Nick Green at shortstop.

Kaat on the pre-game with Castig. Fell in love with an old friend (his first wife passed away some years ago), they got married in June, he moved to New England for the summer (loves it), loves the Sox and the fan culture, is having a great new life. Cool.

I don't know how much Kaat knows about this Red Sox team -- a lot of his stuff yesterday seemed more general about pitching and the game -- but if he wants a job, he's my choice to replace Remy.

I like Eck enough and Don is far more animated when he's around, but I'd rather have solid analysis than "I gotta have it" and the usual assortment of painting with hairy gas and educated cheese with moss and salad and dead central.

Castig said one of the nice things to do in Toronto is take the ferry to Centre Island (where Babe Ruth... blahblah), but now the ferry's not running, workers are on strike... garbage being put in city parks...

But fortunately they went back to the game before giving an opinion. Which they shouldn't do anyway - would not be smart.

Hi Ofer. Nothing at all is wrong with mentioning it. I was cringing because I feared they would opine ignorantly and against the workers, in knee-jerk radio fashion. But my cringe was for nothing and I sighed in relief.

Hi Ofer. Nothing at all is wrong with mentioning it. I was cringing because I feared they would opine ignorantly and against the workers, in knee-jerk radio fashion. But my cringe was for nothing and I sighed in relief.

Oh, ok, fair enough. Reading all the comments in succession made it seem as though it was said in the same breath.

Went on an insane bike ride today that kept me out of the thread. 65 miles (104 km) and three states. Started in Maine, turned around in Salisbury, Mass., and came back. 11 miles further than my longest single-ride distance. And we did this on mountain bikes. I feel accomplis....broken.

Shitty game to go to as a Red Sox fan, but I was very, very impressed with Halladay's performance. That motherfucker can DOMINATE. The front row field seats made the loss much easier to palate. We had tickets in the fifth row but moved up to first once we saw no one was sitting there after the first inning. No one hassled us and they were prime seats, probably about 25-30 feet behind first base. (The girl two seats beside us had Lyle Overbay on her lap during the 2nd or 3rd inning).

There were a bunch of drunk morons right behind us though, that spent probably upwards of $200 on beer between the group. Ridiculous.

On the ride there, we had a good discussion about how most of these obnoxious assholes aren't even there to take in a baseball game for the enjoyment of baseball - they're there to get wasted. And at $10 a beer, what a stupid place to get wasted. This is what separates legitimate baseball teams and parks from shitholes like Toronto.

Yeah, I've seen a couple goons at Fenway the two games I've been to recently, but it seems like every time I go to a jays game I have them surrounding me. Why bother? If I want to get shittered and watch the game, I'll do it in the confines of my own home, where I don't have to pay for a ticket for something I don't remember, and where I can buy 24 beers for the price of 3 at the Skydome. Like 2007. Except I remember everything. And that playoffs turned me into a borderline alcoholic...glad I've weened back since them.

I would love - fucking love, love, love to see Halladay on the Sox, but it SEEMS as if the asking price is too steep. I don't want (and theo won't) rape and pillage our farm system for him...especially to another divisional team.